Bangla court sends HuJI chief to six-day police custody

A Bangaldesh court has remanded Sheikh Abdus Salam, founder of banned Harkatul Jihad al Islami, to six-day police custody after he was arrested for his alleged involvement in the 2004 grenade attack on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Second Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Habibur Rahaman Siddique passed the order after Criminal Investigation Department produced Salam before the court with a ten-day remand prayer. CID officials said they arrested Salam on Sunday.

His arrest comes close on the heels of CID questioning former junior Home Minister Litfuzzaman Babar for his alleged involvement in the attack. A CID official told PTI that Salam would be interrogated for his suspected involvement in the 2004 grenade attack on a Awami League party rally addressed by Hasina.

At least 24 people were killed and over 400 others injured in the attack, though Hasina escaped with minor injuries. Samokal newspaper said Salam, currently the chief of Islamic Democratic Party, was arrested in line with information obtained from former junior Home Minister Litfuzzaman Babar, while Daily Star reported he was taken into custody based on the confessional statement by detained Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan.

The banned HuJI, suspected to be involved in a string of terror attacks in India, floated the IDP with permission from the then caretaker government in Dhaka last year.

Media reports quoting Salam's family sources said a team of CID arrested him on Sunday from the Dhaka Judges' Court premises where he went to appear before a court in another bomb blast case.

CID officials said Babar has revealed some important details, which would be disclosed later. Salam's arrest also comes a week after a media report claimed that the grenade attack was a conspiracy to kill Hasina, that was hatched by the opposition Bangaldesh Nationalist Party leaders at the office of party chief Khaleda Zia's son. The 'Daily Star' in an investigative report had said the 'chilling conspiracy' to kill Hasina was hatched at Hawa Bhaban, the office of Zia's elder son Tarique Rahman.